Throughout the year, we will be asking and answering questions about various Ohio State teams, the players, and anything else on our collective minds of varying degrees of importance. If you have a question that
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I don’t know about you, but this season has been a joy for me. Perhaps it is the residual glow of the national championship, or this seemingly unencumbered best version of Ryan Day, or the fact that the Buckeyes are clearly the best team in college football, but through five games, the hopes that I wrote about before the season started for an existential dreadless season have mostly come to fruition.
And I think that a big factor in all of those things has been how excellent the new starters have taken to their roles. Obviously, if you are on Ohio State’s roster, you are an elite-level college football player. But given all of the experience and talent that was taken in this past spring’s NFL Draft, I think it was natural to assume that the new first-teamers would be a step back. But for the most part, that hasn’t been the case.
So, in an effort to celebrate those new Scarlet and Gray stars, in our weekly fan survey, we want to know who has been the biggest pleasant surprise through OSU’s first five games. We also want to gauge where your head is at in terms of a final score for this Saturday’s matchup with the No. 17 Illinois Fighting Illini.
Take a look at both of the questions below, and make your pick in the survey beneath the article. If the player who is your most pleasant surprise isn’t mentioned, please feel free to write him in at the bottom of the page in the comments. Then, check back on Saturday morning at 11:01 a.m. ET for the results.
Question 1: Who is your biggest pleasant surprise this season?
For me, one of the joys of this fall has been that, as a byproduct of all of the veterans who went to the NFL following last season’s national championship, we have gotten to see a ton of young and/or inexperienced players get opportunities to play significant time, and for the most part, they have all delivered.
Whether it has been an underclassman stepping into massively big shoes, veterans who have been stuck behind elite players for longer than they anticipated, or transfers who have quickly acclimated to a higher level of expectations, it has been thrilling to see a new crop of Buckeyes seize the opportunities presented to them.
I won’t bias you with the player on the list that I would vote for, but I don’t think that there is a bad option. This team is so easy to root for, in no small part because so many players are overachieving. So, vote for whatever Buckeye your heart desires; there is no wrong answer.
Question 2: What will the margin of victory be in Saturday’s game against Illinois?
On Sunday, the FanDuel Sportsbook opened its betting at OSU -15.5. Since then, it has dropped a point to 14.5 points. The gold standard college football analytics system, SP+, has it as a 34-20 game in favor of the Buckeyes, which is 14 points, hovering right around that line.
So, while I will make my official pick and prediction on Saturday morning in the “Land-Grant Tailgate Podcast,” right now, I am inclined to go with something like 37-6. Look, until someone proves to me that it is possible to score a touchdown against this defense, I won’t believe it.
Throughout the year, we ask questions of the most plugged-in Ohio State fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
